A vehicle steering control system for a vehicle/trailer combination that
provides rear-wheel steering assist to improve the vehicle/trailer
combination stability and handling performance. The control system
provides an open-loop feed-forward control signal based on hand-wheel
angle and vehicle speed. The control system includes a vehicle yaw rate
command interpreter that provides a vehicle closed-loop feedback control
signal based on the yaw rate of the vehicle, a trailer yaw rate command
interpreter that provides a trailer closed-loop feedback control signal
based on the yaw rate of the trailer, and a vehicle lateral acceleration
command interpreter that provides a closed-loop feedback control signal
based on the lateral acceleration of the vehicle. The closed-loop
feedback signals are added together and then combined with the open-loop
feed-forward control signal to provide the rear-wheel steering assist.